STARKVILLE — The template is set, and David Fair doesn”t care if it means he has to be everywhere to execute it.
On Saturday, Fair showed he and his teammates on the Starkville High School defense are up to the challenge.
Fair led a stifling effort that kept a zero on the scoreboard long enough for Gabe Myles to break a 44-yard touchdown run that helped push Starkville to a 7-0 victory against McComb in the Fall High School Jamboree at Mississippi State”s Davis Wade Stadium.
“It is the mind-set I have to play with this year,” Fair said when asked if the Yellow Jackets needed him to be everywhere on the field this season. “Our team was around, but certain people have to pick it up and play hard.”
Led by Fair, Starkville limited McComb to 27 rushing yards on 11 carries and 49 passing yards in the game that featured two 20-minute quarters of varsity action.
Starkville didn”t torch McComb despite rushing for 112 yards. It threw for 27 yards, but it had the game”s only scoring play that proved to be more than enough.
One score wasn”t enough for Starkville coach Jamie Mitchell, who expressed disappointment to his offense for its showing. He said the victory might have been acceptable last year — his first at the school — but that the Yellow Jackets have moved past that five-win season and are primed for bigger and better things this season in their new home in Class 5A.
“It looked like we had confusion, and I am not really sure why,” Mitchell said. “We didn”t get lined up right and we just played slow on that side of the ball. We have to do a better job of coaching them up.”
Mitchell drove his point home to his players in a talk after the game in the corner of Scott Field. He said the lack of execution bothered him and that the Yellow Jackets would get better.
Another coach said the team”s defense has to establish its identity, at least early in the season, until the offense finds its rhythm with Myles in his first year at starter replacing Jaquez Johnson.
“It has to be every day starting Monday,” Mitchell said. “It is the real deal from that point on.”
Mitchell went on last year “any win was a good win”, but that “ain”t the case anymore. We”ve got to learn to dominate and we have to learn to get better.”
Fair said the defense is ready to buy into that thinking and control games.
“He tells us somebody has to step up,” Fair said. “The leaders have to encourage other people to be leaders on the team.”
Fair said the defense has plenty to work on, especially conditioning. He admitted to being a little tired after the game, which might have been because he was a force at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield. He said it is crucial all 11 players on defense give maximum effort for however long a play lasts and then come back and do it play after play after play.
Mitchell said the performance of the defense — and Fair — matched his expectations.
“We have some good players over there who can run,” Mitchell said. “They”re going to have to carry us for a little bit.
“(David) is one of the best players we have, without question. Without a doubt he is our team leader. … David is a great football player.”
Fair said the defense will do its best to match that intensity and effort and that it will be a matter of time before the offense”s execution reaches the same level.
“Gabe is absolutely going to be the playmaker,” Fair said. “He is going to be one of the leaders on the team, and he is going to make big plays. I have 100 percent confidence he is going to be able to step in for Jaquez.”
Mitchell echoed those thoughts, saying Myles is an “electric” player who has the ability to change a game with one play. He said the key for Myles and the offense is developing consistency.
Myles nearly didn”t get a chance to showcase his escapability. With less than 14 minutes remaining in the second quarter, Myles rolled right on a pass play to the right corner of the end zone. Myles was pushed just after he released the ball and he went down awkwardly as the pass sailed incomplete. He stayed on the turf for a few moments before getting up and walking off on his own power.
After sitting out one play, Myles took the snap on third-and-9, avoided two tacklers in the backfield, and raced down the left sideline. He used a crackback block by Preston Baker to score.
On the Starkville High sideline, one of Myles” teammates said Myles has been doing things like that since the second grade, or Pee Wee days.
All of the Yellow Jackets hope Myles has more of those plays in him this season.
“Coach told me the offense has to step up and I have to be a leader of the team,” Myles said, “so I have to come through and try to make a play.”
Myles admitted to being nervous Saturday morning. He said it was a “great feeling” to score a touchdown in a Southeastern Conference stadium that plays host to the best football in the nation. It also is the place where his father played football for MSU.
Myles said the offense wants to score 50 points a game to take the pressure off the defense. Even if it doesn”t, though, he said he has the confidence Fair and the rest of that unit will keep the Yellow Jackets in games, if not win them.
“I expect (our defense to play for four quarters like it did for two),” Myles said. “They know what we are and we”re not rolling on all cylinders right now, so they know they are carrying the load. We put faith in them and they will carry us a long way.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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